#IrishFilm: Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s Citizen Lane now available to buy

Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s Citizen Lane is now available to buy on DVD. The film is available from Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane Bookshop, IFI bookshop and other select stores.

Citizen Lane is an innovative mix of documentary and drama that delivers a vivid and compelling portrait of Hugh Lane, one of the most fascinating and yet enigmatic figures in modern Irish history. A man of multiple contradictions, by turns infuriatingly parsimonious or extraordinarily generous, a professed nationalist and a knight of the realm; a monumental snob and a fearless campaigner for access to the arts.

The drama is intercut with interviews from contemporary documentary contributors such as historian Professors Roy Foster and Paul Rouse and Art Historian Morna O’Neill who offer a narrative richly illustrated by the paintings of his collection with a twist in its tail in the long-running campaign to recover for Ireland Lane’s Bequest of 39 great impressionist paintings, amongst them Monet, Renoir and Manet.

Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Maze, The Cured) stars as Hugh Lane, with support from Sir Michael Gambon (Victoria & Abdul, Harry Potter) as Lord Ardilaun, Derbhle Crotty (Noble, Stella Days) as Lady Gregory, and Marty Rea as William Orpen, as well as Bosco Hogan (The Flag, The Borgias), Lesley Conroy (The Cured, Life’s A Breeze), and Gemma Leah Deveraux (Cardboard Gangsters, Property of the State).

The film is directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan (Stella Days, Ordinary Decent Criminal), with the drama written by Mark O’Halloran (Viva, Garage). Cinematography is by Kate McCullough (The Farthest, It’s Not Yet Dark), with Mick Mahon (The Queen of Ireland) as Editor, and Production Design by Mark Kelly (Dublin Oldschool, The Flag). It is produced by Sheila Ahern, James Mitchell, and Jane Doolan for Soho Moon Pictures and Mammoth Films. VFX was done in Belgium by UMedia, who are also co-producers. Citizen Lane is funded by RTÉ, the Irish Film BoardFís Éireann/Screen Ireland (FÉ/SI) is the national development agency for Irish filmmaking and the Irish film, television and animation industry., and The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the participation of Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane.